State of the Union: Interview With Gov. Brian Kemp (R-GA)
Interview
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Well, really a pretty simple message, Jake.
Thanks for having me on.
I mean, Georgia, in my opinion, is not a purple state. We're a slightly red state. And we got to have a voice to voters where they will vote for us. And that was really a pretty simple message I gave. The reports on my speech are all over the board, but it really was a very simple theme.
We have to tell people, number one, what we're for, number two, that we're going to be focused on the future and what we're going to do for the voters in our state or the American people. And then, number three, we have to do a simple thing. We have to win.
I mean, if we don't have -- if we don't win the White House, you can't govern, you can't make a lot of the decisions that we are seeing been made right now in Washington, D.C., that has Joe Biden's approvals ratings at 40 percent or below in the state of Georgia. So it's a pretty simple message for those that are running.
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Well, that's for the people to decide.
But my point is exactly what you said. We cannot get distracted. I mean, one of the things that I learned in -- learned running in 2022 in a very tough environment against a very tough, nationally funded opponent that raised $100 million, 90 percent of the money coming from outside of the state, is, you cannot get distracted.
You have to tell the voters of your state why they need to vote for you. That's why I talked about what we're doing here in Georgia to help people fight through 40-year-high inflation, high gas prices, making sure they have a good-paying job, and making sure that we're doing something about crime in their neighborhood by going after street gangs and street racers.
And if we get distracted and talk about other things that the Democrats want to talk about, like these investigations, regardless of what you think about the politics of those, if we get distracted every day and let the media just talk about that, that only helps Joe Biden. It does not give us a path for Republicans to win.
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Well, and that's really my point from yesterday's remarks is, the road to the White House is coming through Georgia and two or three other states that really, in my opinion, are going to decide the presidential race.
And I was just laying out the blueprint for I think any candidate to be able to win, is to talk about what we're for, focus on the future, not look in the rearview mirror. If you look in the rearview mirror too long while you're driving, you're going to look up, and you're going to be running into somebody, and that's not going to be good.
It's like a quarterback that throws an interception. If you dwell on that the rest of the game, your team's not going to fare very well. But if you put it behind you and focus on the game ahead and the future, then you're going to win. And that was my point yesterday.
For people to ultimately be able to win, we have to tell people what we're for. We have got to focus on the future, and we also have to just make the comparisons with the disaster of the Biden administration, when you look at the border, when you look at 40-year- high inflation, our domestic energy policy, our strength around the world.
And those are the things I think we're going to have a lot of good candidates that, if they focus on those things, we have got a great chance of winning the White House in 2024.
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Well, Jake, first of all, my thoughts and prayers certainly go out to the people of Kentucky and Tennessee.
And I have been a governor during those times too where we have lost a lot of people. I have had to visit a state patrol officer that was shot by somebody that was illegally in a forest, a forest protester. You saw those officers being assaulted when they were going in, true heroes. And we certainly appreciate what they do.
And that's why every state is going to have these debates. I will tell you, in Georgia, thankfully, we have been ahead of the curve on a lot of these issues when you think about school security. We did school security grants to every state -- every school in the state shortly after I was elected in 2019. I proposed another round of that this year before both of these shootings of $50,000.
So that is an issue we have to continue to work on. But, also, I'm proud of the fact that, last year in the Georgia General Assembly, the late, great Speaker David Ralston and I and the rest of the General Assembly passed a massive mental health bill to continue to work on these issues. They are no easy solutions. And these are things that governors and
legislators are going to have to continue to focus on. But I'm also going to continue to focus on going after really bad people that, quite honestly, doesn't get the play that a mass shooting does that are shooting up our streets and our people every single day, as well as our neighborhoods.
And so these are issues we have to continue to dig in on.
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Well, I haven't really looked at any of these rulings. I think, eventually, the Supreme Court is going to decide this.
In Georgia, we have had a law on the book since 2019. It is the law in our state. And depending on what any federal judge or the Supreme Court would ultimately say, that's what's going to be in place in Georgia. It's been that way for a long time. We are a state that values life.
But, Jake, this is a tough issue. And this is again to my point of my remarks in Nashville is, we have to explain to people what we're for. And voters don't expect to agree on -- with us on every single issue. But when I tell people we're a state that values life, you may differ on your opinion whether you like our heartbeat bill or not or you think it should be a different policy, and we can have those debates.
But, also, if you look at what we have done in Georgia, we have done foster care reform. We have done adoption reform. We have done mental health reform. And we're continuing to go after gangs that are killing people every day. To me, that is a life issue.
So it's not just as simple of what has happened with abortion policy. It is really an overarching conversation that I think Republicans have to do a better job of explaining to people where we are. And, also, don't be ugly when somebody may not disagree with your position. I mean, people are principled in this country, and I think voters understand that, even if they disagree with you.
But we have to be honest and transparent with them. And we have to not be afraid to tell people where we are and be truthful.
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Well, we talk to law enforcement every day about people that are planning protests and -- protests and other things.
And it's been very clear how we handle those things in the state of Georgia. Atlanta is the city too busy to hate. We're going to help people peacefully protest, but we're also not going to allow people to get out of line. And I think the people in our state know that.
And anybody that's coming from out of our state that doesn't realize that, they are in for a rude awakening. But I would just say that's why we cannot get distracted. I mean, you can have whatever opinion you want, whether these investigations or grand jury things that have been going on are politically motivated or not, or why have they taken so long in some instances.
But, regardless of that, that is not what we can focus on every day. I can't control what the judicial branch is doing or what a local prosecutor is doing in many ways, but what we can control is, is what we're focused on. And that's exactly what my message was to Republicans, and it's what we just finished doing in our legislative session that ended just a few weeks ago.
We sent a billion dollars back to the taxpayers. We did property tax relief of a billion dollars, helping people fight through Joe Biden's 40-year-high inflation. And we are continuing to fulfill our promises, another teacher pay raise and things of that nature.
So we are -- we have been focused on telling people what we're for and why they should vote for us.
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Go, Dawgs.
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